How the American Media Sensationalized the Iran Hostage Crisis

Abstract

This paper will address the immediate and long-term repercussions on Iran’s reputation in the eyes of the United States that arose from the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, in which Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy and took 52 Americans hostage. It will address how the ethnocentric American media impaired Iran’s reputation: it portrayed Iranians as radical Islamic jihadists, Iran as a violator of human rights, and the American hostages as hopeless, relatable victims. The discourse will also address how the hostage crisis directly and irreversibly damaged Iran’s relationship with the United States.